Signature Brew Launch Beer Grants Scheme To Support Independent Venues

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Signature Brew have announced a £250,000 beer grant scheme to support live music. Independent music venues nationwide are being offered from £500 to £5,000 worth of the brewery’s Studio Larger to help with the recovery of the live music.

Over the past 12 months, it’s been incredibly tough on the whole music scene but especially for independent music venues. The pandemic left 550 venues in danger of closure and threatening the livelihoods of the thousands of passionate people who run them.

With that in mind, the London brewery have set out to help as much as they can, pledging £250,000 worth of beer to help kickstart the return of live music. Successful applicants will receive an allocation of the brewery’s Studio Lager to make sure their taps have fresh beer and to help generate revenue.

The scheme will additionally be open to touring musicians. Artists that have gigs and tours booked in the UK over the next 12 months will be eligible to apply for a share of the beer, which can be taken on the road with them. Those eligible will be able to apply directly on the Sigature Brew site.

A panel made up of expert music industry professionals including Gus Unger-Hamilton (vocals and keyboard in Alt-J), Deepak Sharma (owner of the UK’s biggest independent venue, The Troxy), Ed Sellers (Primary Talent Booking) – and more to be announced – will join Signature Brew co-founders Sam McGregor and Tom Bott to help allocate the grants to successful venues and bands.

“We’re passionate about live music and we’re going to help independent venues and musicians however we can.” Signature Brew co-founder Sam McGregor explains. “The idea for the Beer Grant scheme came from wanting to offer the thing we do best as a way to make life easier for venues and touring bands after an unprecedentedly difficult year. We want to help as many venues as possible and we believe the Signature Brew Beer Grant will contribute to safeguarding the future of the UK’s music scene.”

Alt-J vocalist/keyboard player and Beer Grants panellist, Gus Unger-Hamilton adds “Some independent venues have it tough even in years where they’re not forced to close due to a pandemic. But without these venues, many emerging artists would have nowhere to cut their teeth and the music industry would be much poorer from top to bottom. This initiative from our friends at Signature Brew is an innovative and fun way to extend some much needed help to some brilliant places and help them get the show back on the road.”